Review: DIARY OF A WIMPY KID

Based on the 1st of four successful illustrated books, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID follows around clever Greg Heffley and his adventures in middle school. He’s a bit of a smart-alec who logs everything into his “its not a diary, its a journal,” complete with the horrors of cooties, bullies, icky girls, and the dreaded “cheese touch,” all of which make a grown-up want to get as far away from middle school as possible. Greg figures that if he can rise above all “the morons” to become popular, it’ll be smooth sailing right through to high school.

After an extensive nine-month search, the producers found the perfect Greg in Zachary Gordon. If you’re a fan of DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, you’ll see that his wisecracks are exactly as portrayed in the book. Wary of his big brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) who plays a prank of waking him up in the middle of the night, weeks before school begins, yelling that he’s late for the first day of school, patient with his little brother Manny (Connor and Owen Fielding), and best pals with the socially unconscious Rowley (Robert Capron), Greg does everything possible to live through his first week in middle school. Rowley means well and has a heart of gold, but when he blurts out in front of everyone on the first day of school, “Hey Greg, you wanna come over and play?”, you have that sinking feeling how the rest of the school year might go for these two. None of this compares to that one kid in class that everyone knew was a bit “off”, and in Greg and Rowley’s case, its Fregley, convincingly played by Grayson Russell. He gives the film its gack factor by constantly wanting to share and display everything with his classmates.

Steve Zahn takes on the role of one my favorite characters in the books, Greg’s dad, Frank Heffley. From the start, Frank is always trying to help his son to do more manly things like lift weights. Rachael Harris is Greg’s mom, Susan Heffley, who’s insistent on embarrassing her son every chance she gets. The screenwriters added some characters to fill out the rest of the book. Wise beyond her years, Angie, (Chloe Moretz of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER), becomes friends with misfits Greg and Rowley and tries to share with them her philosophy of how to fit in. Fans of the book will also notice that wrestling teacher Mr. Underwood becomes Coach Malone (Andrew McNee), the Gym teacher who “lives and breathes physical education.”

The film’s smart screenplay comes from a pair of tv writers Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs (FREAKS AND GEEKS & LIFE AS WE KNOW IT,) and the husband and wife team of Jackie Filgo and Jeff Filgo (THAT 70’S SHOW). Their script is never patronizing to kids and is filled with amusing, yet embarrassing moments from almost everyone’s childhood. Thor Freudenthal (HOTEL FOR DOGS) successfully translates Jeff Kinney’s popular book into a funny kids movie and he doesn’t miss any of DIARY’s quirky diary entries, even down to the amusing cartoons so prevalent in the novel. Even with its excited, built-in audience, it looks likes Fox has another hit franchise on their hands.

From 20th Century Fox, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID opens in theaters Friday, March 19th.

PG: For some rude humor and language. Running Time: 92 Mins.